Chapter 85
"The beasts in this world are... way too vicious! Ugh, why can’t we use magic here? I hate this world!"
"Stop whining. At least we found something to eat."
Marshall tore off another piece of roasted meat.
"I never expected magic to become completely useless one day. Sure enough, when everything else fails, the only thing you can truly rely on is a body forged through years of relentless training."
Marshall and Lisanna looked rather miserable.
They had fallen into the middle of an uninhabited wilderness, and after an exhausting struggle, the two of them had finally managed to kill a bizarre rabbit-like creature living in the nearby mountains.
Unfortunately, the meal they made from it was almost tasteless.
"Lisanna, your cooking still needs work. You’re nowhere near Mira’s level."
"You idiot! We don’t have any seasoning! We don’t even have a knife, and this thing was a nightmare to clean!"
Lisanna glared at him.
"Be grateful you have anything to eat!"
"Ultimately, the problem still lies with the cook."
Marshall sighed sorrowfully.
"I miss my Mira."
"She’s my sister! Just watch me beat you—"
Lisanna suddenly froze.
"Wait."
"What is it?"
"Marshall, can you hear that?"
Marshall listened carefully.
"Yeah. It sounds like... an engine?"
The atmosphere of this world contained almost no Ethernano, leaving even Telepathy Magic unusable.
Without the constant thoughts of other people drifting into his mind, Marshall’s ears—and his mind—had never felt so peaceful.
When he first discovered he couldn’t use magic, the helplessness had made him uneasy.
Then he realized that if he couldn’t use magic, most other people probably couldn’t either.
That thought immediately relaxed him.
After all, once magic was removed from the equation, very few people could give him the same sense of danger.
Magic was not omnipotent.
When everything else was stripped away, physical strength remained king.
Once he returned home, he would train even harder!
"Come on. Let’s go take a look."
Marshall picked up the crude wooden spear he had luckily managed to make and headed toward the sound with Lisanna.
"We might find a way out of this place."
"Huh? What is that?"
Lisanna stared into the distance.
"A magic vehicle? Or some kind of land ship?"
"Marshall, I thought people couldn’t use magic here."
"Something being able to move doesn’t necessarily mean it runs on magic."
Marshall narrowed his eyes.
"And judging from that engine noise, it doesn’t sound like a magic vehicle."
They watched the large vehicle speed past them.
With their current walking pace, there was no hope of catching it.
Unexpectedly, however, the vehicle soon made a sharp turn and came racing back.
The door flew open, and a familiar pink-haired figure jumped out, already crying at the top of his lungs.
"Lisanna! It really is Lisanna!"
"You’re alive! You didn’t die!"
"WAAAAAH!"
"NATSU?!" Marshall and Lisanna exclaimed together.
They exchanged bewildered looks.
Something felt wrong.
Natsu cried easily on occasion, but surely not this much.
More importantly, how had he appeared in this world?
At that moment, a blonde woman climbed out of the passenger seat.
She marched straight toward Marshall, seized him by the collar, and glared at him with open hostility.
"Marshall, you bastard! What are you doing here?!"
"Did that man send you to track me down?!"
"?"
Marshall was completely lost.
Unless he remembered incorrectly, the woman in front of him looked exactly like the blonde companion who had once traveled back from the future with Natsu and the others.
Her name had been...Lucy?
But had she always been this aggressive?
"Um... Miss, may I ask who you are?"
The timid pink-haired Natsu looked over curiously.
"Lucy, do you know him?"
"Tch. This pretty-faced nuisance is technically my little brother!"
"???"
Marshall became even more confused.
"Wait. Miss, do you actually know me?"
"Because I definitely don’t know you."
"And could you let go of my collar before we continue?"
"Hah? What are you pretending—"
Lucy suddenly stopped.
She studied him more carefully.
"Wait a second. Marshall, were you always this short?"
"..." ×4
Lucy fell silent for several seconds before abruptly releasing him and bursting into loud laughter.
"Ahahaha! Sorry about that! Looks like I mistook you for someone else."
"Now that I look properly, you’re much better-looking than my idiot little brother."
"My mistake!"
"..." ×3
She cleared her throat.
"Why don’t all of you come back to our guild first?"
"The Royal Army is hunting illegal Mages everywhere right now, but they haven’t discovered our guild’s current location yet."
"Wait."
Marshall caught the important part immediately.
"Illegal Mages? You’re Mages?"
The timid Natsu scratched his cheek and smiled bashfully.
"Ahaha... Yeah. I’m the fastest driver in the Mage guild Fairy Tail—Fireball Natsu!"
Marshall snorted.
"What are you laughing at?!"
"Nothing. I just remembered something amusing."
He looked around.
"You’re right, though. This isn’t a good place to talk."
"Let’s visit this Fairy Tail."
...
"Waaah! This has to be a miracle!"
"Lisanna fell from a cliff like that, yet she still came back alive!"
One guild member raised a mug with tears streaming down his face.
"I’m so touched! To Lisanna—cheers!"
"Cheers!" everyone shouted.
"By the way, why did Natsu bring two strange people back at a time like this?"
"The girl came with Lisanna. As for the boy, I heard he wants to join the guild."
"You’re kidding, right? The king has already ordered every Mage guild to be disbanded, and someone still wants to join now?"
"That’s how you know who your true friends are in times of hardship!"
Another mug rose into the air.
"To our newest member—cheers!"
"Cheers!" everyone shouted again.
"Am I really the only one who thinks that pink-haired guy looks strangely familiar?"
"Oh, stop worrying about pointless details!"
"Cheers!"
"Cheers!" everyone answered yet again.
"..."
Marshall had now confirmed one thing.
He had crossed into another world again.
This wasn’t the Fairy Tail he knew.
It was another world’s Fairy Tail.
The general atmosphere felt remarkably similar to the guild in his memories, but the people inside were completely different.
Gray wore a thick pile of winter clothing.
Natsu was shy, timid, and easily frightened.
Cana was gentle and noble—and didn’t drink.
Levy had a fiery temper and exploded at the slightest provocation.
Wendy was tall, long-legged, and strikingly mature.
Jet and Droy were candidates for the strongest members of the guild.
Gray was awkwardly pursuing Juvia, while the soft-spoken Mira and the painfully skinny Elfman clung to Lisanna and cried their hearts out.
This world was known as Edolas.
Its inhabitants were counterparts of people from Earth Land. Although they looked almost identical, their personalities were often complete opposites.
The situation was becoming increasingly complicated.
Marshall was starting to get a headache.
Fortunately, there was some good news.
Magic did exist in this world, Edolas merely lacked Ethernano.
The fundamental principles of magic appeared to be shared between both worlds.
As long as Marshall could still construct a magic circle and provide it with an external energy source, he should be able to cast spells.
That made the situation far easier.
As long as magic remained possible, Marshall was confident he could eventually construct a spatial passage back to Earth Land.
Unfortunately, they probably wouldn’t be returning anytime soon.
Sensing the spatial coordinates of another world was already a tremendous problem. There was no way to solve it quickly.
Marshall could only hope nothing disastrous happened at home while he was gone.
For now, however, he was already here.
He couldn’t help wondering what his counterpart in this world was like.
And there happened to be an obvious lead standing right in front of him.
Marshall approached Lucy, who was still trying to blend back into the guild.
"Miss Lucy, there’s something I’m curious about."
"Why did you mistake me for your younger brother?"
"Hah?! Don’t you think the resemblance is obvious?"
Lucy stared at him incredulously.
"Has no one ever mentioned it to you before? That shouldn’t be possible. His face is extremely recognizable."
"Uh... Sorry, but I still don’t understand."
"Here."
Lucy tossed him a newspaper.
"See for yourself."
The enormous headline on the front page immediately entered Marshall’s view.
[CENTURY’S GREATEST MUSICAL GENIUS AND RISING SUPERSTAR—EMINEM (MARSHALL HEARTFILIA’S) GLOBAL TOUR DATES OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED!]
Marshall stared at the newspaper.
"The fuck?"
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Here comes the real MC!
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